Ruling Expected Today in Restaurant Smoking Lawsuit

Ruling Expected Today in Restaurant Smoking Lawsuit

Article excerpt

SAPULPA -- A state district judge is expected to rule Tuesday on
whether the Oklahoma Health Department can begin enforcing
restrictions on smoking in public.

Judge Donald D. Thompson listened to about three hours of
testimony and arguments Monday before asking attorneys to submit
proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by no later than
noon Tuesday. Such documents would help a higher court review the
case if Thompson's ruling is appealed.

Thompson last week signed a temporary restraining order
preventing Gov. Frank Keating and the Health Department from
enforcing the regulations. Enforcement is scheduled to begin Aug.1.

Two Sapulpa businesses, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1320 and
Freddie's Barbecue and Steakhouse, sued the state June 27 in Creek
County to block the rules, which had been signed by Keating a day
earlier.

The regulations require large restaurants with no-smoking
sections to enclose and ventilate rooms where smoking is allowed.
Restaurants that are "all-smoking" are not affected.

If Thompson issues an injunction, the Health Department is asking
that it apply only to the lawsuit's two plaintiffs. That would mean
the rest of Oklahoma's public gathering places would have to follow
the restrictions when they become effective.

Thompson also is expected to rule on that Tuesday.

State Sen. Mike Morgan, the attorney arguing for the plaintiffs
and the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, said allowing the rules to
proceed would create a "bureaucratic dictatorship."

"If we allow this to go forward, we are allowing unelected
officials to make policy decisions that profoundly affect Oklahoma,"
Morgan said.

Morgan also argued the rules have too many unknown economic
effects.

"Imagine if we have five, six, 7,000 businesses irreparably
damaged from these rules," Morgan said.

Morgan's other contentions include that the rules conflict with
the state's Smoking in Public Places Act, passed 15 years ago, and
that Gov. Frank Keating did not have the legal authority to enact
some of the proposed Health Department rules while omitting others.

Attorney Charles Broadway, representing the Health Department,
argued that state law will clash with the federal Americans With
Disabilities Act without the smoking restrictions. …